Putting Religion in Perspective – At this juncture I must put Religion and relationship in perspective because our understanding of religion, our observances and practices, is contextually the basis from which all further considerations should arise. I suppose at this juncture that some of you might be thinking that there are more fundamental questions involved here;

 If we truly believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone; Where does the  “religion”, our do’s and don’ts observances, come into the equation in our relationship with the living God at all?

Or… If our practices are NOT causal but clearly responsive, where should we or could we draw the line in our response to God’s love and grace in ANY area?

Or even… When would our religion infringe upon our justification by grace through faith in Christ and cause us to fall from that grace then?

    When the decision is made to add “days” to our “religious” calendar the motive of course is the primary consideration. If it arises out of a sense of DUTY to obey some religious system for our justification we should see that ALL systems are now clearly superseded by the fullness of Christ and such error should be openly condemned. If it is an optional choice of the believer and arises out of a personal or corporate desire to focus specifically on some attribute of God’s revelation of His ultimate grace in Christ, it COULD BE a blessing for everyone involved. The difficulty is that there is always a danger in seeking to find our fulfillment merely in religious practice and beginning to think, almost subconsciously at first, that this religious practice is the basis of our standing with God. It is at that juncture that it must be rejected.

    I have witnessed over the past number of years to Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, Humanists and many shades of religious confusion in between in our missions efforts around the world. I personally believe that religion is deceptive and at its core a curse, leftovers from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil back in the garden. The root cause of the murder of Abel was a religious one. It’s a deadly thing to see your “religion” as the basis of your salvation while at the same time having conscience of our own shortcomings in our attempts to completely follow this or that religion. Religion ALWAYS ultimately fails.

    What the world needs is NOT another religion nor does it need a warmed over version of the best religion ever designed… Judaism.  Judaism is a religion that was actually designed by God and then given to mankind word for word by a faithful servant, Moses. However, even the best religion ever designed was unable to save because of the weakness of the flesh revealed clearly in its repetitive sacrificial demands that are pointing to a solution that was yet to come BEYOND their religious practice. Our salvation clearly demanded the lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the world to come to do what He alone could do because God always knew that religion, even one that He designed for a people of His own choosing, would NOT be able to save us! This is true because it is always the failure of human reason to understand what PERFECT obedience and holiness really is. It is an attribute of character NOT merely the desire to determine to do what you know as right or wrong. It is something that God not only knows best but it is who he is… Holy, Holy, Holy. Unfortunately the nation of Israel in Exodus 19 made the classic human error thinking that knowing God’s law would equate to doing it! The Word of God teaches us; “And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD (Exodus 19:7,8 – KJV - Emphasis mine)”.

    Religion would help us only see how short we fall of even the most basic of His demands. However, only the promise of God to save us by His own intervention and amazing grace truly can do that!  For that reason the sacrificial system was inexorably attached to the religion of the people of Israel because the author of the greatest religion on earth knew that the solution to our need is beyond the reach of ANY religion. We need a PERSONAL SAVIOR! We need someone to pay a price that we can NEVER pay! God’s solution has been and always will be a personal relationship with the Almighty God based clearly upon what He alone can do to save us by His mercy and which we must accept as our ONLY means of salvation.

    Abraham was called the friend of God. Like Abraham we must, through a lifetime of growing trust, come to see our relationship with the living God as our “exceeding great reward”! Wound comprehensively within the religion of Judaism is the thread of hope that rests upon Christ alone. So, when the solution ultimately arrived in Christ it did NOT rest upon the LAW in a Levitical priesthood but rests upon God sending His Only Son born of the Jews to show us that His salvation, planned before the foundation of the earth, is beyond the scope even of the religion revealed through Moses! God’s desire is a relationship NOT another religion. He desires that we be reborn through faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as New Creatures with a NEW Father… God Himself. This is LAW as well! The law of Faith(Romans 3:27), law of Righteousness(Romans 9:31), and law of Christ(Galatians 6:2).  Christ is now our primary consideration and we have LIBERTY to observe whatever elevates Him but never confuses the fact that a personal relationship with God the Father through Christ alone is the answer to our need.

    The do’s and don’ts of our lives are clearly important to God. After all, he sent His only Son to die for our transgressions of His revealed Law… All of it. When confronted by the arch enemy of God, Satan, Jesus tells him clearly that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”(Luke 4:4b). That puts quite a bit of emphasis on His value of the ENTIRE written word of God, including His revealed law, in my view. Jesus also told the religious leaders of His day that they searched the scriptures daily but missed the fact that it ALL RELATES TO THE INTENTIONAL REVELATION OF God himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, GOD WITH US(see John 5:39,40). I must confess a deep prejudice and even disgust for the concept of being against God’s law, antinomian, at any level. I believe that the lawlessness of modern “Christianity” accounts for the dismal witness it has particularly in the West. On the other hand, the moment that the litmus test for salvation becomes observing Days, months, years, or anything else to be saved or justified before the Holy Creator God, it’s another issue completely as I have clearly stated as well. However, a religious practice that celebrates the reality of what we now possess in Christ by faith in Him should be evident as he manifests Himself though His Body to this world.

     I believe that most of us would agree with the statement that we recognize Sabbath as set apart for God’s use in a special way but that we are no more saved by that knowledge and observance of Sabbath any more than we are saved by NOT committing adultery or murder. I also believe that while I would say that I am not justified by obeying law, I must also say that any of us are condemned by God of sin when we commit ANY such disobedience as murder, adultery or forsake God’s revelation to remember His Sabbath of rest. Once again, I must state that ALL of the human race on our own merit stands condemned of sin in that we fall short of the glory of God with NO exceptions other than Jesus Christ! The Law in its entirety is but a shadow of the holiness that is found uniquely in our God!

     Obedience does not commend us as deserving salvation (because we are unable to pay the price for any of our past or future sin) but DISOBEDIENCE can and does condemn us as sinners, Christ being the judge of us all. What a Paradox!  That’s a very difficult realization for most of “Christianity” that would teach that the problem with the OLD covenant was merely the law that condemned us before God. That is especially true when you consider that it was the infraction of only ONE law that killed us ALL according to scripture in the garden of Eden(see Romans 5:12 in context).  Many now erroneously teach that LAW is the problem and must be ‘done away”. However, the law continues to work very well and accomplishes the effective condemnation of all mankind before a holy God. It is STILL accomplishing its intended purpose. We are by nature under the condemnation of God by birth and by choice, if we understand the purpose of God’s law at all.  Actually, I must reiterate at the expense of being too verbose to say that Christ Himself is God’s Law written in flesh perfect in both letter and Spirit. The NEW TESTAMENT definition of sin is clearly stated in Romans; “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.  We have therefore seen the glory of God most completely in Christ ALONE! Thankfully NOT only is God’s law manifest in the perfect Christ but His righteousness and grace as well. We therefore seek to be “in Christ” above all else.

     If “doing away with” any of God’s word is the solution to our ultimate standing before God, why would a Holy God demand payment at such a high personal cost for that sin, His ONLY begotten Son? If transgression in essence could simply be eliminated by revoking or eliminating the Law, why was it even necessary to begin with? No, the law of God, ALL OF IT; ceremonial, moral, judicial, etc., because it ALL points to Christ has the goal of driving us to the only solution of our sin, the blood of Jesus Christ. When erroneous systematic theology takes someone down the antinomian road teaching that the problem is LAW, a rough ride is ahead that will lead to compromise after compromise as they try to discern the meaningful “moral law” to regard and that “ceremonial law” which should be abandoned. But if we see Christ as the fullness of God’s Law AND Grace in all of God’s Word, we seek to enter into a personal relationship with Him that ALONE can save us. All of God’s written word is seen to have been magnified in Christ. All of us are challenged to enter into His very body, the church, and pursue His will. We should see all of God’s written WORD in the light of the fullness of Christ, the living WORD. When we do that, nothing will be compromised morally or ceremonially. We will approach God from the perspective of ALL that we have been given IN CHRIST and our practice will be a reflection of our desire for our focus on Him to permeate our very being. Sin is coming short of HIS glory revealed in all of His word and perfectly revealed in God’s very being. We will also have freedom in Christ because the shadows of scripture are relevant in His fullness. We can apply the use of His word to encourage our growth in Christ and avoid anything that would deny that glory.

    Sin still exists and has been expanded in the light of Christ to anything that falls short of  the perfection of God Himself! Thank God that His mercy has been manifest at the same time or who could stand under the scrutiny of such perfection? Rather than seeking to attain our standing before God based upon our own mediocre performance, we stand by faith covered in the righteousness of God with all of its benefits and blessings earned by Christ’s perfect life. We are crucified with Christ and yet we live. Obedience then is NOT a means of salvation but disobedience to the glory of Christ as manifested partially in the written Word but finally and completely in Him, still demands His sacrifice for such SIN for us to stand before God. The higher the standard the greater the need for a righteousness imputed, that is not our own, and that is found alone in Christ. With this in mind we need to consider what we could and should employ in our religious practice to build us up in such a living faith and what the consequences of our choices might be.  Salvation then is by grace through a living faith in Christ alone but we are ALSO created unto good works… our religion, which should include Sabbath as reflective of the Creator… Christ and may include other biblical practices as well in my view.

    The heart and core of religion is Law. Few would venture to suggest that the religion revealed by God to the nation of Israel can be seriously considered apart from it’s heart, the Decalogue. However, as we consider the usefulness of our religious observances in our relationship with God we must place the religion we practice as secondary to the relationship attained for us by Christ alone.  “For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth (Romans 10:4), the words of the Apostle Paul teach us clearly, only an imputed righteousness by a living faith in Christ can place us in good standing making peace with God! Paul states however that it is NOT his intention to destroy the LAW but to establish the LAW for what it is, a shadow of the reality that is found and made possible for us in Christ alone. He actually expands the law to actually demand this faith as LAW;

 ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;  ²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  ²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  ²⁶To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.  ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.  ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.  ²⁹Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:  ³⁰Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.  ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law  (Romans 3:20 - 31KJV).      

      Christ is then the end of the Law for righteousness, the means by which we stand PERFECTLY justified before God but that is never intended to destroy the Law or our desire to be like HIM. It is intended that we should see the Law in it’s entirety as perfectly manifested in Him. We should seek to reflect that same obedience of Christ in our lives through His Holy Spirit in us. We should be careful that we DO NOT confuse religion and relationship. Our religious practice must always reflect the relationship of peace that we have with God through Jesus Christ ALONE and anything within God’s Word or within the realm of our liberty in Christ that manifests that relationship and edifies His church in that reality should be part of our daily lives.